bigguyinpasadena

I know this is a query that will set of alarms for the regulars but here goes...

I will be in Rome this month with a friend who is celebrating a birthday. He likes steak. Any suggestions? We will be staying in the Prati district but we are not restricted to that area .

TIA

Perche

You are right, it is unusual to go to Rome and search for non-Roman food. You rarely find steak on the menu but sometimes you do, just like once in a blue moon a restaurant will serve a hamburger.

I think your best bet will be to look for a non-Roman restaurant. For example, in the historic center is Ristorante Baires Argentina, or something like that. I think Argentinians have the highest per capita consumption of steak in the world. The store in the window says (in Italian) something like "A corner of Argentina in Rome," and "all of the meat is imported from Argentina."

Another option is to look for a Florentine or Tuscan restaurant in Rome. They eat a lot of steak in Florence and throughout Tuscany, but it's an unusual dish in Rome, and is rarely on the menu. Two that come to mind although I can't vouch for them personally, are Girarrosto Fiorentino, and Restorante dal Toscano.

There other restaurants that have steak, like "The Meat Market," where you can get a steak, or even a hamburger, but they are very low end, and probably worse than what you are used to.

There are even some very high end Michelin star type places if you want to spend $100 per steak.But overall, since I've never eaten steak in Rome, and I know it's not on most menus, you might want to look for a Florentine restaurant, a Tuscan restaurant, or look into the Argentinian restaurant. I know there are Roman restaurants where you occasionally see it on the menu, but I doubt it's very good because it would be unusual for a Roman to order it.

If you want to test the very outdated myth, "There are no bad meals in Rome," probably the best way to prove that isn't true is to go to a Roman restaurant and order a steak. As the capital, Rome has restaurants with food from Umbria, Tuscany, Le Marche, Sicily, Emiglia Romagna, Campagna (mainly Naples), etc.

Remember, there is no such thing as Italian food. That's an Italian American concept. Every region has its own food. Steak is not a very Roman food. I'd look for a Florentine restaurant for steak.

bigguyinpasadena

It looks like Dal Toscano is the choice. Not too far from our hotel either.
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/italy/r...1095670/359975

PWMTrav

This might be a little bit too casual, but you're going to find good steak at the Mercato Centrale. I'm honestly not sure if the meat stall is run by Roberto Liberati any longer, or if the Savigni family have taken over, but either way it's going to be very good. That's where I'd go if casual is okay.

EDIT: I saw you mentioned Dal Toscano - it is well-regarded, but I haven't personally eaten there.

justforfun

Tell your friend to save the steak for LA or DisneyWorld and find a great local Roman restaurant for his 35th birthday.

Joanna2360

If your friend wants steak for his birthday, that's what he should have, but if he is American, he may want to know in advance that the steak in Italy will taste different than most American steaks, because the Italian beef is grass-finished rather than corn-finished, meaning that the steers eat a lot of corn just before they become steaks. Also, the Italians serve steaks and chops with more fat than you usually find on steaks or chops in an American restaurant, and therefore the birthday steak may look a little different. We went to Dal Toscano one time so that my husband could order a steak ("I just need an injection of beef" is what he said), and it was okay, but he was not enthusiastic about it. At another restaurant he tried the green peppercorn steak (pepe verde), a classic dish popular in Rome (it has a creamy sauce along with the peppercorns) and found it to be fabulous, so your friend might want to think about being adventurous on his birthday and order a different kind of steak.

Perche

PWMTrav, I think you may be confusing this with Mercato Centrale in Florence but OP is going to Rome. While I didn't specifically look for steak in Mercato Centrale Roma, I'm 99% certain there is no steak there. Romans don't eat it. I've been there 5-6 times since they opened a few months ago, and there is no steak, unless I've been blindly walking by it. In Florence, yes. Romans don't eat steak (OK, there is always the exception). Florentines are steak eaters.

PWMTrav

There was steak when I went - admittedly, January was the last time I passed through Rome. I'd heard someone say the butcher stall was going to change hands, so maybe it's gone away? It was Roberto Liberati in the past (who has great shop further out of the city center, but that is strictly a butcher shop/food market and they don't cook there), but the website now lists it as Savigni, the same folks who run the one in Florence.

The Romans I know eat steak, they just tend not to eat steak out, so it's a lot easier to get the name of a good butcher than it is to recommend a good restaurant for steak. I know that's entirely unhelpful to OP.

Perche

True, steak exists in Rome, but it's rarely on the menu. In fact, most places where I've seen it are in places that advertise themselves as an, "American Style Pub," with Budweiser, french fries, etc. Flying all the way to Rome to eat American bar food, I don't get, when there is Roman food. I know that some of the Michelin star places have steak on the menu.

I still hold with my original advice. There are a number of Argentinian restaurants in Rome, like the one I mentioned upthread, Baires. There is also La Pampa, El Gaucho, and a few others. I don't see the point of going to Rome, the city with some of the best food in the world, and eating in an Argentinian restaurant, but if OP wants steak, his options are limited. The most likely place to find it is in a USA style pub in Rome, with a bar and Skye TV turned onto an American channel. There is even a restaurant in Rome with a Texas theme called, "The Wild Wild West" or something like that. It isn't Roman, but it serves steak.

If he doesn't want to eat Roman (not Italian, Roman) food, and doesn't want to go Argentinian, or to a pub, then he should try a Florentine restaurant in Rome, like the ones mentioned above.

There are a few Roman restaurants, like Maxela that have Steak Florentine on the menu, and even hamburger, and its classier than a USA style pub.

PWMTrav

I don't disagree, was just throwing another option on the heap.

Perche

At Rome's Mercato Centrale there is a stall called Carne i Salumi, or meat and salami, but it's not a sit down steak place. There is also a stall called L'Hamburger di Chianina, roughly, Tuscan beef hamburger, but no steak. I love this market. I never go to Rome without stopping there, usually several times.

For the more adventurous keep in mind that a 5 minute walk away, just down the street from Mercato Centrale in this neighborhood called Esquilino, is the even larger Mercato Esquilino. It is a very authentic Roman city market. Even Roscioli has a booth there. It's a slightly more gritty market, but quintessentially Roman. No steak though.

ckendall

It's been a long time, but I used to enjoy the occasional steak at the Girarosto Toscano
http://www.alverogirarrostotoscano.it/
http://www.alverogirarrostotoscano.i...rrosto_ENG.php

obscure2k

As well, it has also been a long time for me, but when we were in Rome, one of our children asked for Florentine-style Steak. So funny that I don't remember all of the great meals I have had in Rome, but do remember the most disappointing one and it was at Giarosto Toscano. Best part of the meal was walking through the Borghese Gardens after lunch.

mromalley

Roberto Liberati had a stall in the Mercato Centrale in Rome, with cooking facilities. It was there earlier this year. It's disappointing if he has closed the stall, having access to the best butcher in the centre of the city.

A friend had a steak cooked by Roberto just after the opening and said it was the best steak they had ever eaten. It could be that it was a special thing

eta: perhaps one of the big hotels would serve steak in their restaurant.

KLouis

I find this thread really funny! Talking about Italy's capital and the difficulty of finding a good "steak" in a restaurant. In contrast, I think of Perugia and the villages around it, where I spent a few years until recently, where you had the choice between a fiorentina and a tagliata (the latter often with a choice of tasty sauces) in almost every single restaurant you'd enter. This thread, to me, is a good proof for Perche's idea of there being no "Italian" cuisine as such but, rather, a collection of excellent regional ones...